CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN at HOLLYWOOD TEEN MOVIES

Life’s good for the Baker family - even if a little regimented - which is not surprising. As well as Tom (Steve Martin) and his wife, Mary (Bonnie Hunt), twelve children make up the clan with ages ranging from pre-school to 22! And there’s a dog, too. Despite the crowded house, everything is chugging along at a well-ordered pace.

The family routine is disrupted when Tom, a football coach, gets an offer to train a team in Chicago and the family has to uproot and move to the big smoke. The new job means more hours away from home for Tom, and the publication of Mary’s book - which sends her out on promotional tours - adds to the household chaos. With their increased workloads, Tom and Mary have to rethink their roles as parents to get things back on an even keel. But sometimes their ideas are not always compatible and the household harmony goes hilariously off-key!

Trivia: Cheaper By the Dozen is loosely based on the 1950 film of the same name, which was about a real family. Its period was the 1920s, whereas the new comedy has a modern day setting. In the original, dad was an efficiency expert and mum was a psychologist.

Cheaper By The Dozen [DVD](1950) DVD
Years before "The Brady Bunch" or "Eight Is Enough," audiences delighted to this endearing film starring Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy as the proud parents of 12 at the turn of the century. The ever-fastidious Webb's attempts to keep the household running efficiently drive this nostalgic comedy/drama, based on a true story. With Jeanne Crain, Betty Lynn, Edgar Buchanan. 85 min.

Cheaper By The Dozen [DVD](2003) DVD
In this reworking of the 1950 favorite, Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt are the parents of 12 kids who move from their small Illinois town to a suburb of Chicago after he gets a job coaching college football at his alma mater. With Martin busy with his new job and Hunt on a publicity tour for a book she wrote, the children encounter problems adjusting to their new environs and counting on their preoccupied father to be Mr. Mom. Piper Perabo, Hilary Duff, Tom Welling, and an uncredited Ashton Kutcher also star. 98 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital Surround, French Dolby Digital Surround; Subtitles: English, Spanish; audio commentary; deleted scenes; extended scenes; featurettes.
Cheaper By The Dozen 2 [DVD](2005) DVD
Side-splitting sequel has Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt taking their 12 children on one final vacation together before some of them start leaving home to begin their adult lives. What should be a peaceful Labor Day weekend at a lakeside retreat quickly turns into a comedic showdown between Martin's tight-knit clan and that of his long-time rival (Eugene Levy). With Piper Perabo, Hilary Duff, Tom Welling. 94 min. Standard and Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital Surround, Spanish Dolby Digital Surround; Subtitles: English, Spanish; audio commentary; featurettes; theatrical trailers.